“A dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by action makes your dreams come true.” -Greg S. Reid

In 1979, a study was conducted at Harvard University among graduate students enrolled in the MBA program. The students were asked, “Have you set clear, written goals for your future? If so, how do you plan to accomplish them?” Only 3% had written goals with action plans, 13% had goals in mind but did not write them down, and the other 84% had no specific goals at all.

Ten years later, the same group of individuals was interviewed again. The 13% who had goals in mind, but did not write them down, were earning twice as much as the 84% who had no goals at all. More notably, the 3% who had written goals with action plans were earning an average of 10 times more than the other 97% combined.

Many practices go only as far as comparing their numbers with last year, industry “standards,” or what they heard their colleagues have accomplished. This is called managing by hindsight, which leads to reactive decisions that do not ensure continued growth and progress. If a dentist and team are going to pro-actively monitor progress and design future success, a key ingredient in their game plan must be SMART goal setting.

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Timely

Specific: First and foremost, for goal setting to be effective, any goals that are forecasted for the practice must be specific. That means generalities will never do when setting goals. Goals such as “we want to be more productive,” “collect more” or “we should attract more new patients” will get you nowhere.

Measurable: What tools will you use to measure how successful or unsuccessful your goal is? Can you track the progress of the outcome?

The VIPS mobile dentistry model, together with our professional team, is designed to support your practice growth with proven methods and systems that come together to help you achieve great success. Growing a dental practice is always a challenge, but with the help and support of our team, you can accomplish your goals faster and more efficiently. Our team has paved the way with more than 25 years of proven success.

March 9, 2016

In today’s dental business environment, going it alone in private practice is a bigger risk than ever. There are more dentists, more group practices, and more corporate dental companies competing for the same patients. Dental insurance companies dictate treatment for patients, and reimbursements continue to decline, while the cost of doing business increases.

Is the traditional single provider dental practice dying? The answer is ‘no’, but it is evolving.
Now, more than ever, single provider practices find themselves competing for new patients as well as patient loyalty in a marketplace increasingly driven by dental insurance, corporate dental groups and the increasing availability of a wider range of services.
If you are a general dentist in solo practice, you have surely felt pressure to expand upon the services offered in your practice and to offer more services “in-house” instead of referring patients to a specialist. You have probably found yourself utilizing more resources to attract and keep new patients in your practice.